A relative just arrived from our province and he'll be staying with us until he finishes college. This recent development made me recall a sentiment that I've been longing to share.

My siblings and I are really not fond of visitors staying over for long periods of time, especially if we don't know him/her personally. It's too awkward to do your usual routine around the house since you have to consider the existence of the said visitor. We already had a number of instances wherein a distant relative just pops out from nowhere asking my parents if their son/daughter could stay with us. At first it was okay, we were happy to help out but overtime I've observed as well as caught some of them taking advantage of my parents generosity. Tsk... tsk...

Let me mention an example. A distant relative stayed over for a couple of months and I found out he was making NDD/mobile phone calls to his girlfriend, using our landline, and he would stay on the phone for long periods of time. I can make a pass if the calls made were for emergencies and or it was only done like once but the last straw was drawn. I caught him sneaking out frozen goods out of our fridge, my Aunt and I would make fun of the missing bacon rolls wondering where he cooks the said item. Food is not an issue, hell eat and cook all you can, but the thought of stuff/things sneaking out of the house just freaks me big time. I had to do something. The plan was to make him feel uneasy to the point that he'll just leave. I threw sharp glances while he was using the phone, and I was cold compared to our usual interaction. I'd wake up early (the suspected time he sneaks out) and pretend to use the computer. It didn't take long, he left after a couple of weeks. Hahaha I'm so bad... Honestly I also felt bad (really) considering that he was really a good person (based on the talks we had) but hey I had to do something right? After all I'm the daughter of the owner of the house, the eldest may I add. I did him a favor by not telling my parents and taint his goody image but at least he knows that he is not welcome.

Ever since that incident, I made my parents aware of what we (my siblings and I) thought before they agree on requests regarding visitors. My mom would candidly tell me about a relative planning on staying here and she'd initiate the discussion and sort of ask for my approval (ang taray!). Both of them are not always at home hence they really don't know how it's hard for us to have visitors over. My dad tried to sneak up on us, good thing my mom informed me in advance. He informed us that a distant relative on his side of the family (for example:Si John na anak ng anak ng pinsan ng Lolo mo the Hell??) was arriving and will be staying with us. Since he was out of the country he thought that if he already said yes then we couldn't do anything about it and considering that the "distant relative" was already onboard a ship to Manila. Being true to my mantra (just think out loud) I sent a text message to my dad, that we do not agree with having a visitor over. To make it more clearly I told him that if he insists on the issue, I'd make sure that his relative will taste my "katarayan" to the maximum level. Hahaha! ang sama ko talaga but I don't want to be "plastic". The dread day came and my mom just received a call that the said "distant relative" will just be staying with his relatives somewhere in Manila. Yun naman pala eh may ibang alternative. I'm so evil... but I just can't help it, the situation calls for it. This is just one of many incidents I've witnessed. As much as I want to share the "other culprits" I've caught... I'd rather not ruin my day by recalling some of them.

My dad was so disturbed about my text that when my Lola ( his mom) had to go here in Manila for an operation he even asked my my mom if it was okay with me? and I replied "She's my grandma for crying out loud!?!, I can't believe that you'd still have to ask."

I have a typical first name and that is Kristina. It could be spelled-out in different ways (Cristina, Christina, Xtina and what have you) but nevertheless it still sounds the same. For the last 2 decades of my existence, my name has evolved from Maria, tin-tin, Kristina, Kristeta, tina, tins and in an effort to be unique I finally chose a hyphenated name now I am t-na.

Mood Swings

Confessions

I always said the right things, throwing smiles left and right, ignoring "unpleasant" scenarios pretend that it didn't happen. I found it difficult to say NO, even though I really don't want to do it. To top it off, I always believed that "If I could just be nice to other people, maybe they will also be nice to me in return". Now, realizing that all of that crap I thought of is just full of shit since a lot of people took advantage of my disposition. Some of them even recognized that I was gullible and naive but instead of correcting me, they completely did the opposite. I've treasured momments of reflection and meditation, the healing of wounds. One day I'll face and conquer my demons...